WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Since the departure of crew chief Darian Grubb, Stewart-Haas Racing has stopped sending a crew chief to Hendrick Motorsports’ weekly competition meetings, but team co-owner Tony Stewart doesn’t believe it has had a negative impact on the organization.

Grubb spent several years at Hendrick as the lead engineer for Jimmie Johnson and as crew chief for Casey Mears but left following the 2008 season to become crew chief for Stewart when Stewart became co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.

SHR gets cars and engines from Hendrick, so it was natural for Grubb to attend the Hendrick competition meetings each Tuesday.

But after Grubb was released after last year’s championship run, SHR doesn’t send a representative each week to the Hendrick shop. None of the SHR crew chiefs—Steve Addington, Tony Gibson and competition director Greg Zipadelli—have any Hendrick ties.

Grubb was told during the Chase last year that he would not return to Stewart-Haas this season. Despite leading Stewart to the series championship, he was released after the season and signed with Joe Gibbs Racing. He is now Denny Hamlin’s crew chief.

With new crew chief Steve Addington, Stewart has won three races this year and is sixth in the standings. Teammate Ryan Newman has one win, but is 14th in the standings.

“It’s not that what we don’t need to go, it’s just (that) Darian had a unique relationship with Hendrick so that’s kind of why we were invited into their meetings,” Stewart said Friday at Watkins Glen.

“But the information is still an open book back and forth. We’re still sharing the same amount of information. The only component that is different is we’re not involved in that Tuesday meeting, but that relationship is still really, really good for both sides.”

While Hendrick has been NASCAR’s dominant team for the past decade, Stewart-Haas has come on strong. It has 17 wins since 2009 and Stewart won last year’s championship with five wins in the 10 Chase races. Stewart has made the Chase in each of his three seasons at the helm, while Ryan Newman has made it in two of his three years with the team.

Hendrick won five straight championships before Stewart and Stewart-Haas snapped that streak last year.

Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon said that, in some ways, he wishes SHR still had someone at the Hendrick shop each week.

“We definitely had a good relationship with Darian when he went over there,” Gordon said. “It was a kind of a mutually agreed upon situation that was a positive for everybody.”

Though there is no longer a natural liason between the two teams, Gordon said SHR personnel are still helpful when asked.

“It’s still an open book and when we need to reach out to them, they’re great and when they need to reach out to us, we’re just as open,” Gordon said. “But they’re not as involved in our meetings as I’d actually like them to be (and not) as much as they were last year.”

All four Hendrick drivers are in position to make the Chase, as is Stewart. Newman and Gordon are both battling for wild cards.

“We feel like we’re an asset to them,” Stewart said. “I definitely know they’ve been an asset for us. That really hasn’t changed.”